A federal appeals court has rejected arguments by a condemned Ohio killer facing a never-tried execution method that he received poor legal assistance before sentencing.

Attorneys for death row inmate Dennis McGuire have repeatedly argued his original lawyers didn’t do a good enough job presenting evidence about his tough childhood to the jury deliberating his fate.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati turned down the latest appeal Monday by McGuire. He faces execution Jan. 16 for the 1989 rape and fatal stabbing of Joy Stewart, who was pregnant at the time.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is expected to announce soon which of two types of lethal injection processes it will use to put the 53-year-old McGuire to death.